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HOUSE GOP: YOU TOLD THEM OF BERGDAHL BEFORE US? – Lauren French and John Bresnahan report for the hometown paper: “The Obama administration had its first chance to convince House lawmakers it made the right call to trade five Taliban detainees for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. It didn’t work. House Republicans came out of a more than hourlong classified briefing by top national security officials on Monday complaining they’d learned nothing new about the incident that hasn’t already been disclosed in the news media. GOP lawmakers, in particular, were upset that an estimated 80 to 90 executive branch officials in the Pentagon, White House and the intelligence agencies, but no members of Congress, were informed beforehand, including the chairs of the House and Senate intelligence panels. …

-- “The White House dispatched five top deputies to Capitol Hill … The briefers included Tony Blinken, a deputy national security adviser; Ambassador James Dobbins, U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan; Robert Work, a deputy secretaryof defense; Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Robert Cardillo, deputy director of national intelligence. … The Bergdahl briefing kicks off what could be a tough week for Obama on Capitol Hill. The House will continue to dig into the Department of Veterans Affairs ‘secret waiting list’ scandal, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee will begin its own hearings on Iran’s nuclear program.” http://politi.co/1o7d5qa

-- THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE will be briefed by administration officials on the Bergdahl-Taliban swap at 9 a.m. today in SVC-217. The briefing is classified.

-- DEFENSE SECRETARY CHUCK HAGEL will defend the prisoner exchange when he testifies Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee. “Mr. Hagel … is expected to make the legal and policy case for the exchange, and to discuss broadly the reassurances the U.S. was given that the Taliban officials released from the Guantanamo Bay prison would be monitored,” the Wall Street Journal reports. http://on.wsj.com/TE966F

VA AUDIT: 120K VETS SAW LONG WAITS FOR CARE – Dennis Wagner breaks down the numbers for the Arizona Republic: “VA medical centers nationwide have misrepresented or sidetracked patient scheduling for more than 57,000 former military personnel, according to a preliminary analysis of data released Monday by the Department Veterans Affairs, and about 64,000 were not even on the agency's electronic waiting list for doctor appointments they requested. … The data release by acting VA Director Sloan Gibson further verifies wrongdoing uncovered in Phoenix and shows that dysfunctional practices permeate the agency's medical system and jeopardize health care for 9.3 million enrolled veterans. Audits at 731 VA facilities showed widespread confusion about record-keeping practices and pressure at some locations for schedulers to ‘utilize unofficial lists or engage in inappropriate practices in order to make wait times appear more favorable.’” Story with handy graphic to show at which facilities vets waited for care: http://bit.ly/1qigPCa

HUDDLE FIRST LOOK: HOUSE DEMS ROLL OUT FLIPBOARD SITE – At their caucus meeting this morning, House Democrats will unveil their new Flipboard account. “The Caucus magazines on Flipboard will allow people to learn how Members of the House Democratic Caucus are fighting to build an economy that works for all Americans, to ensure Americans have access to quality, affordable healthcare and to finally fix our broken immigration system,” Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) said in a statement. “This new Flipboard account is yet another example of how House Democrats are engaging with the American public on the issues that are important to them.” See it here: http://bit.ly/1nvhYpn

-- TYLER MORAN has been hired to handle immigration policy for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Seung Min Kim reports. Moran is currently the deputy policy director for immigration at the Domestic Policy Council Before Moran, chief counsel Serena Hoy – who joined Reid’s staff in 2005 – handled immigration and other judiciary issues for the Democratic leader. Hoy left Capitol Hill recently for the Department of Homeland Security. http://politi.co/UqtFV5

HARRY REID AND HIS WIFE, LANDRA, are moving to Las Vegas and leaving Searchlight, the small mining town where he was born. Jonathan Topaz: http://politi.co/1l1WtMV

GRIMES STEERS CLEAR OF ‘COAL’ AT D.C. FUNDRAISER – Manu Raju and Burgess Everett have the story for POLITICO: “Alison Lundergan Grimes’ campaign insisted last week that she’d use a high-dollar fundraiser with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as a forum to promote Kentucky’s coal industry and demand action to protect the use of fossil fuel. That didn’t happen, according to an audio recording of the affair obtained by POLITICO through a source at the event. Instead, when the Kentucky Democrat spoke at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill last Thursday, she stuck to a partisan script, railing against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s record on jobs, the minimum wage and women’s issues. The one word she didn’t say during her 11-minute speech: ‘coal.’” http://politi.co/1mBpH27

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, June 10, 2014, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com. If you don’t already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – The Senate meets at 10 a.m. and will vote on the nomination of M. Hannah Lauck to be a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia. At noon, the Senate will vote to confirm two other judges, then recess for party caucus lunches until 2:15 p.m. The Senate next will hold procedural votes on the nominations of Lael Brainard and Jerome H. Powell to join the Federal Reserve System, and Stanley Fischer to be Vice Chairman of the Fed.

The House also meets at 10 a.m. with first votes expected between 1:30 and 3:00 p.m. on bills considered under suspension of the rules: The Veterans Access to Care Act; and a resolution condemning the senseless rampage and mass shooting that took place in Isla Vista, California. The House will also finish work on the fiscal Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.

Sen. Chris Murphy and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell call for increased investment in transportation infrastructure and a change to the federal gas tax, at 11:30 a.m. in S-115. Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, and the Congressional Caucus on Black Men and Boys host a Father's Day Forum on returning from prison, at 2:30 p.m. in Rayburn 2167. Rep. Mike Honda and others roll out the Toxic Exposure Research and Military Family Support Act, at 3:45 p.m. at the House Triangle. Foxx, House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster, Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Sen. David Vitter discuss the highways funding crisis starting at 2:30 p.m. at the Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Ave. NW.

At 9:25 a.m. Wednesday, Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden speaks at the Rally for Roads event to call for a sustainable source of funding for the Highway Trust Fund, at Union Square on the Capitol Grounds.

REID, RAND ALIGN ON HIGHWAY FUND FIX – The NYT’s Jonathan Weisman reports: “With federal highway funds just weeks from depletion, the struggle to replenish the Highway Trust Fund has linked Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, the majority leader, with one of the Republicans’ brightest stars, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky — and pushed against the bipartisan leadership of the Finance Committee — with the clock ticking. Mr. Reid and Mr. Paul are quietly pressing for a one-time tax ‘holiday’ — a special and lucrative tax deduction — to lure multinational corporations to bring profits home from overseas, producing a sudden windfall. …

-- “Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, the Finance Committee chairman, and Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the ranking Republican, want that money to help smooth passage of a broad rewrite of the tax code.” http://nyti.ms/1nvjrw5

CAN ‘TEA-PARTY TEFLON’ GRAHAM CRACK 50 PERCENT? – Patricia Murphy writes for the Daily Beast: “[As] primary day dawns Tuesday in South Carolina, [Sen. Lindsey] Graham’s path to reelection has proven to be more boring than brutal. The half-dozen sub-par challengers he faces are all wallowing in the single digits, while Graham has dominated the field throughout. The only real suspense on election night will be whether Graham wins with more or less than 50% of the vote. Less than 50% would put him into a runoff. More than 50% will close the chapter on the biggest nothing-burger in the Tea Party’s uneven electoral history, a potential non-upset that says as much about Graham’s focus and political savvy as it does about the neutered state of the Tea Party in South Carolina.” http://thebea.st/1n3jRrO

McSALLY: THE HOUSE GOP’S TOP RECRUIT – POLITICO’s Alex Isenstadt in Tucson: “She’s the first female Air Force fighter pilot to fly in combat, a retired colonel who once sued the Pentagon over a policy on Muslim dress, and a self-described moderate who rails against government overreach. Republicans consider Arizona’s Martha McSally their top House recruit of 2014, and few have generated as much excitement in GOP circles. The 48-year-old is battling for the highly competitive House seat from Arizona’s swing 2nd District, a position once held by Democrat Gabby Giffords, who gave it up after a near-fatal shooting in 2011. McSally is trying to oust Rep. Ron Barber, the former Giffords aide who also was wounded in the shooting and who barely beat McSally in 2012.” http://politi.co/1ijFcKT

McDANIEL GIVES GOP ESTABLISHMENT HEARTBURN – WaPo’s Robert Costa writes on A1 that Chris McDaniel embodies everything mainstream Republicans fear about the tea party: McDaniel “has come to represent everything that establishment Republicans fear about the tea party: He is aggressive, unpredictable and, at times, insensitive — if not offensive — on matters of gender and race. It’s not that the establishment is overly concerned about losing Cochran’s seat — this is Mississippi, after all, where a Democrat hasn’t been elected to the Senate in more than three decades. But party leaders are worried about feeding an impression that could hurt their chances elsewhere, in the same way Senate candidate Todd Akin of Missouri tarnished the GOP in 2012 when he referred to ‘legitimate rape.’ …

-- “In his former role as a talk-radio host before becoming a state senator, McDaniel, 41,referred to Hispanic women as ‘mamacitas,’ proclaimed that he would never again pay taxes if African Americans were paid reparations for slavery, mused about whether ‘homosexual churches’ exist and wondered aloud whether former attorney general Janet Reno ‘was a woman.’ Aside from his past statements, McDaniel is dealing with problems that have arisen during his campaign, in which he and his supporters at times have appeared disorganized and careless.

-- “In one inquiry, the district attorney in Hinds County is looking into why McDaniel allies were found trapped in a courthouse hours after polls closed on the night of the primary. In another, four men have been arrested in connection with illicitly taking a photo of Cochran’s bedridden wife, Rose, who has dementia and lives in a nursing home.” http://wapo.st/TEdTFa

GOP’S MIA LOVE HOPES TO JOIN CBC -- Abby Livingston and John Rieger writes for Roll Call: “Former Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love, a safe bet to win her House race this fall, expressed interest in joining the Congressional Black Caucus in a recent CQ Roll Call interview. Currently, the CBC is comprised completely of Democrats. Love’s addition would mean the group picks up its first GOP member since then-Rep. Allen B. West, R-Fla., lost re-election in 2012. ‘I think I will. I will consider joining because I think that in order to affect change, you can’t do it from the outside in,’ the Republican said. ‘You have to do it from the inside out. I’m going to see if I can make a difference there.’” http://bit.ly/1lkffz5

MONDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Aaron Thiele was first to correctly answer that the Old Supreme Court Chamber, housed in the basement of the Capitol, was used as a committee room for the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy during the 1950s.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Ken Leach has today’s question: Which U.S. governor was elected to office after his death sentence was commuted. The first person to send the correct answer to swong@politico.com gets a mention in the next Huddle.

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